Denver CO, January 11, 2006: The Ultimate Fighting Championship and its ownership company Zuffa LLC, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Worldwide Fighting Championship for using the words “fighting,” and “championship,” within its name.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday, January 11, 2006 stating that the use of the terms “fighting,” and “championship,” is a violation of copyright law and somehow misleads fans into thinking that the two promotion companies are somehow related. In addition to the suit, Zuffa LLC, is moving to stop the WFC from using its name as well as stopping the event “Rumble in the Rockies,” slated for January 21, 2006 at the Budweiser Events Center.

The WFC feels that the verb “fighting,” and the noun “championship,” is a generic term used to describe the type of sports event being produced. The term “Fighting Championship,” is the MMA industry’s equivalent to the term “Operating System,” or “OS,” used in the technology industry. Many different companies such as Microsoft Windows XP, and Macintosh OS 10, are companies that use and rely on the term to provide consumers with a description of the service provided.

The unprecedented lawsuit by Zuffa LLC, has far reaching ramifications, and poses the question of whether the UFC will now file against MMA companies like the Japanese super-promotion PRIDE Fighting Championship for the same reason.

This controversial action by Zuffa LLC is the latest of moves intended to alienate the promotion company from the rest of the MMA industry in a negative manner. The first such action came as the UFC banned all online media from covering UFC events except for in-house and mainstream media outlets.

The WFC prides itself on openness and accessibility and will continue encourage and invite all forms of media to cover WFC-related events and promotions. The WFC feels that the lawsuit is completely baseless and a ploy to create an illegal monopoly by claiming ownership of a generic term.
The UFC has been criticized within the MMA industry as of late for its lack of serious championship contenders and lackluster fight cards. UFC has elected to handle this matter with lawsuits against other companies rather than delivering a superior product.

The bottom line is that the WFC feels that this frivolous lawsuit will be dismissed in a timely manner and plans for “Rumble in the Rockies,” are in full force and fans will again fill the Budweiser center. It is obvious that the UFC fears the competition from this relative new kid on the block and the WFC will continue unencumbered, as the fastest-growing MMA promotion company in the country

Zuffa has successfully "pressured" another company in threatening a suit over something that they claimed to own "world wide exclusive rights" to.

Spike entertainment in japan produces the "Fire Pro" series of wrestling games and had a "Shoot Fight Cage Match" mode in several editions of the games. They were basically no holds bared Octagon cage matches.

Zuffa claimed that they owned the rights to the SHAPE of the Octagon (not the Octagon Cage, just the fact it was octagonal infringed on their copyrights) and demanded Spike change the mode or face legal action.